Self Service Tech

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Permalink Reply by Dan Ziegler on January 14, 2008 at 10:44am

I see our industry embracing new technologies as with any industry, slowly at first then we act as if we never lived with out them.

Can you imagine a full service establishment NOT using a POS system to process orders or work in an all cash with nos CC merchant services environment? Nor can I.

Customers using touch screens to order table side has its place in the industry. I would welcome the opportunity to send my order in exactly the way i intend with out the mistakes often accompanied at some theme base establishments with lack luster training programs.

I would still leave a tip equal to the quality of service i receive, the attention i am paid before and through-out my service and the follow-up after the meal . To me it is far more important then simply taking my order. Again, take this with a grain of salt. I also believe that internet base ordering for take-out and delivery service based establishments will surpass phone orders in less then two years.

Thats my two cents..

Add to this My desire to have everyone order products online too and a shameless plug for www.KlickKitchen.com and that concludes my comments :)

Permalink Reply by Paul Paz on December 8, 2008 at 12:45am

Don't Stiff Your Computer!
Here's a fun follow-up story on your original post.
Paul

Atari Founder's Bistro Swaps Touchscreens for Waiters (Sort Of)
By Joshua Davis 11.24.08
http://www.wired.com/techbiz/startups/magazine/16-12/st_uwink

I scan the room. No arcade games. No man-sized rats in ball caps. This restaurant isn't what I expected from a Nolan Bushnell eatery. In fact, uWink—the latest dining concept from the man who founded both Chuck E. Cheese's and Atari—is filled with grown-ups, all huddled around touchscreen terminals. A few friends and I settle into a table at the far end of the sleek interior.

Outside, a simple sign announces the bistro's entrance. The place is wedged between a department store and a martial arts center, on the second floor of a mall in Woodland Hills, 25 miles northwest of Los Angeles. It's almost like Bushnell wanted to keep uWink's inaugural location low-key—a quiet experiment hidden in a lonely, overlooked corner of America. But in June, another restaurant booted up in Hollywood, and this fall eatery number three landed in Google's hometown of Mountain View. Wired wrote about Bushnell's plans for uWink back in October 2005 ("The Player," issue 13.10). It seemed about time to try it out.

Every table in the joint has a built-in monitor, and all ordering is done via touchscreen, making waiters obsolete. Oddly, a waiterlike person appears at my table. "Welcome to uWink," he says brightly. "Can I explain how things work here?" I look at the screen. It beckons me to swipe my credit card or driver's license. Seems pretty straightforward. "So what you want to do is swipe your credit card or driver's license," he says. Do I have to tip this guy ? Or maybe I'm supposed to tip the computer. What if I don't? Maybe it's coded with a cheapskate-detecting algorithm that will mess up my order next time. The rules to this game are more slippery than I bargained for.

Soon after my fish tacos arrive via a black-clad runner—no personal interaction—the screen invites me to play a game. I say yes, and it gives me 30 seconds to look at a photo of 12 kids. Then it asks me how many had their hands up. I say one. Trick question: none did. The computer projects my name and score onto the wall next to the names of other, smarter patrons. I decide to stiff the damn machine.

I want to talk with one of my dinner companions, so I do my best to ignore the screen. But it keeps trying to get my attention. It wants to know if I would like to play a trivia game. Then a memory game. I ignore it.

When it comes time to pay, the computer seems to get spiteful. The cursor morphs into the pinwheel of death—a mean-spirited Mac mini is locked up inside the table and doesn't want me to leave. "Come on, let me go," I hear myself say to the screen. The pinwheel keeps spinning.

Finally, I flag down my host by shouting—a decidedly low tech approach that startles him. He recommends trying the screen on the other side of the table. Obviously, I have pissed this one off. When I call up the bill on the new machine, it asks if I want to leave a 15 percent tip. Angering a waiter is one thing, but getting on the bad side of a computer network that has your credit card or driver's license info is another. I hit "OK."